What If! Metropolis : Building Thumbnails 21-27

I felt as if I needed to center around the buildings more than the actual city itself,so, I researched into Art Nouveau the art movement Long was associated with and took the traits from that movement to try and convey them into my buildings. I like #23 and #27 in this group and would appreciate development or any feedback at all.

Illustrator Logos #2

Flash Exercise #3 Bouncing Ball

My first thought when looking back at this is that I need more practice when it comes to weight , especially when it comes to the elastic joining the two balls. I feel as if I successfully created the bouncing motion ,but, I think next time I will need to exaggerate the elastic motion just so the sense of weight and motion is more visible. 

Illustrator Task #2

 

This was my first attempt at illustrator with the pen tool , the initial exercises I felt were easy enough to navigate, however, when it came to tracing I found the pen tool extremely difficult to use and create the right curves. I am also unsure how to create smooth pointed edges because the chunky edges look clunky on the necklace extension. I feel as if I`ll need more practice with the pen tool in the future.

What If! Metropolis : Thumbnails 11-20 + Initial Ideas

These early thumbnails I feel are helping me get grasp on the themes that Carol Long uses and trying to find different ideas on how to convey buildings. When researching into her , Long also is influenced by Art Nouveau which I`m going to look at architecture inspired by that movement. I am also going to do more visual research into her work to help me get further understanding of the traits of her work .

What If! Metropolis : Thumbnails 1-10

To start off my ideas I was mainly focusing upon tentacle like buildings and the idea of an infected building where the bumps look like measles. I was intrigued by the look of bacteria and sea life in these thumbnails and was mainly focusing on the look of shape and structure to get some ideas going. I think to continue my research I will look further into these themes as to how I can develop my ideas further.

Space Oddities : La Belle et La Beta (1946)

                                 

La Belle et La Bete (Jean Cocteau ,1946) differs greatly from the Disney classic that most remember from 1991 , being more historically accurate than it`s remake and having a more believable sense that the film was set in France ; with the language being spoken throughout being French.Despite the theatrical performances the film was enjoyable to watch and gave the plot a comic relief type of feeling .Although supposed to be a romance , when watching the humor was clear to the audience as even the tear jerking scenes were disguised by the Beasts ridiculous appearance.

In comparison to the Disney remake , the original was harder to follow along and felt more of an adult orientated film where the audience needed intense concentration to follow up with the insane camera transitions and plot which seemed to jump from one point to the next which left the audience not knowing what was happening. Also, when recognizing the plot holes that had been take out by the 1991 version , the plot had been simplified greatly which made the plot much easier to follow than it`s predecessor .This may be done because of how similar the plot line of the sisters and brothers being abusive is incredibly similar to Cinderella which came out 4 years after the original. (The abusive sibling plot may be a common theme in this era : where the siblings could be seen as an empowering tool to the central female character . Focusing around the start of woman rights , where they are seen as more than sexual objects.

Despite the strangeness of the plot , Cocteau uses bizarre design of the plot to take this film away from the cartoon charm from the 1991 version and creates a haunting depth of detail from within the castle . Where the castle is almost dream like and the audience is left not knowing if the location is reality or not. "Cocteau uses haunting images and bold Freudian

symbols to suggest that emotions are at a boil in the subconscious of his characters. " Roger Ebert , Great Movie : Beauty and the Beast (1999) . The emotional values within the characters are more obvious in the 1946 version rather than the 1991 . The Beast is shown with hardly any anger at all , more despair whenever Beauty refuses to marry him. His emotions match the hilarious design of his character where the Beast is shown to look more of a timid cat than a beast that could kill. The majority of emotion in this film seems to be on the scale of despair ,sadness and fear where the main characters take these basic emotions and exaggerate them to make the Beast seem more terrifying ,a disguise that works rather poorly when seen in close up .

There is a theory when looking at interviews including Cocteau , where "Instead of seeing himself as a director ,he sees himself as a poet." Roger Ebert , Great Movie : Beauty and the Beast (1999). This makes sense with his metaphoric sense of imagery , including examples of the beauty with stereotypical snow white skin , bleach blonde hair and rosy lips (Which was classed as beautiful in 1750`s France -which was inspired by Marie Antoinette.) Also the cat like appearance of the beast which appears to have a shaven mane .Almost as if the appearance of a ferocious lion is being covered up by his gentle soul. 

"The dialogue, in French, is spare and simple, with the story largely told in pantomime." Bosley Crowther , La Belle et La Beta (1947). Is a fitting quote for this film as the style for this isn`t particularly a film , it is more seen as a production on stage with the eccentric outfits and exaggerated emotional performances. Despite the story line taking more than one route , the adult orientated plot would have suited children by far , which is why the Disney tale is much more well known and famous among current audiences.

Bibliography : 

Ebert ,R (1999) Great Movie : Beauty and the Beast : http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946


Crowther, B (1947) La Belle et La Beta (1946) : http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B03EFD71E3EEE3BBC4C51DFB467838C659EDE

Production Designer : Gary Freeman

Gary Freeman

Life Drawing 28/10/15

Life Drawing : Studies

For life drawing tomorrow , I decided to focus my studies on different face shapes as I am not very good at drawing babies faces nor younger teenage ones. So , I decided to draw one from a photograph of me as a baby and one from 2 years ago. I also wanted to try different body parts ,so, I decided this week I would try drawing feet since I struggle with feet the most out of any body part.

What If Metropolis : Carol Long Research

Carol Long

Digital Painting Mini Project : Shark Boat (WIP)

*NEW* Twitter Account

I decided to make a Twitter account to promote my artwork throughout the course . If anyone would be up for following me that`d be great :) The link is below.

https://twitter.com/Sweedy_pop

Space Oddities : 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick`s 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968) is a confusing epic , teasing with the viewers mind and confusing them with a ridiculous labyrinth of a plot.Despite the insane plot line and even further bizarre imagery , once the single plot line comes into play the film becomes engaging with a slightly haunting villain ,HAL, which makes the viewer think. What if technology one day advances so far to gain human emotion? What will happen if this technology goes wrong? Will it be capable of mass murder? Overall this is an extremely thought provoking epic where stage design begins to take a step forward in the sense of futurism and where this step forward influences TV shows and films at a later date.

Although this film may be an adventure epic it seems more of an artistic creation where instead of going all out with the plot line and making the characters believable . This film was all about atmosphere and all in the simplest way possible."He reduces each scene to its essence, and leaves it on screen long enough for us to contemplate it, to inhabit it in our imaginations." Roger Ebert , Great Movie : 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1997). Ebert proves the point that this film is entirely about thought , the scenes do not make sense and seem like a collage,however, when digging beneath the outside then this film questions reality and the evolution of mankind. Making it seem alien ,confusing and insane ,but, doing so with minimal speech , hardly any plot and grand dramatic soundtracks.

2001 was one of the earliest films to use the soundtrack to an advantage , using the force of music to emphasize such a simple plot and create a grand scale of atmosphere. Commonly used today , soundtracks are used to create a sense of sadness or epicness in a film or video game . To connect the audience to the film and feel what the characters are feeling. Despite not going this far with not caring much for the characters , the soundtrack at the beginning made a simple scene with monkeys at the beginning of evolution seem magnificently powerful , as if they were godly and as if this was a breaking point in humanity. "The classical music chosen by Kubrick exists outside the action. It uplifts. It wants to be sublime; it brings a seriousness and transcendence to the visuals." Roger Ebert , Great Movie : 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1997). That being said , once reading several reviews there is a point of psychological background behind the music where the soundtrack also represents mans emotion towards the mission and evolution . Where words do not speak and tell the audience what the person is feeling , Kubrick used music instead. "The music is associated in the film with the first entry of man's consciousness into the universe - -and with the eventual passage of that consciousness onto a new level, symbolized by the Star Child at the end of the film." Roger Ebert , Great Movie : 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1997)
More on the set design ,although the design lacked luster in the beginning , once the film developed and the futuristic essence came through , the design took off and the architecture for the space stations had childish charm when looking over the years the big buttoned consoles looked ridiculous. However, saying that, the symmetrical set design for the interior cast an uncomfortable feeling over the simple design . Where the space station looked like a cross between a hospital and a cage .Where faceless men float down the corridors.The eccentric patterns emphasizing the shape of the passage ways also drew the eye , closing in on the central figure ,yet acting like arrows , leading the main character towards his target or demise.

Bibliography :

Ebert,R (1997) Great Movie : 2001:A Space Odyssey : http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968 

Staff,THR (2014) `2001 : A Space Odyssey` : http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2001-a-space-odyssey-read-747494

Invisible Cities : Research Presentation

Research

Invisible Cities : Art Of Presentation

Art of Presentation

Invisible Cities : Final Crit Presentation

Final

Invisible Cities : Octavia Low Angle Exterior Shot

This painting I felt the most difficult out of the three since I struggled greatly with perspective and lighting. I wanted to have the whimsical look with the master shot but also create a sense of darkness to foreshadow what was inside with my interior. Overall I am happy with this one despite I want to eventually get away from the scratchy linework which I am used to painting with. Although I think that`ll happen only in time and practice. 

As always , please leave any feedback :)! 

Life Drawing : 21/10/2015

Invisible Cities : Interior and Exterior Master Shot Updates

Since I got feedback on both during my class I thought I`d upload these two together in one post. I reduced the width of the bridge to make the distance seem much further apart than before which I feel helped with the composition with the city ,also, I added fur to the spider creature to give it more texture and seem more three dimensional. 

Again , any further feedback is welcomed :D 

Invisible Cities : Octavia Master Shot Exterior Update

After receiving feedback from my painting progress , I changed the pillars position and I feel as if it frames the image much better. I attempted at trying to fix the scale by adding a thinner gap between the planks in the bridges and I hope it helped.I also made the back buildings and islands less saturated so the central figure of my painting stood out even more. Again , any feedback is greatly appreciated :).

Invisible Cities : Octavia Master Exterior Shot

                                                  <Gif to be published here>

As my painting went on I felt more of a whimsical colour palette come into play , I felt as if the dark exterior made the city look dull and lifeless where I wanted more colourful shadows and lights to make the city look vibrant yet mysterious. I also changed some of the shapes since working on a bigger scale the pillars framing the image were to small and I felt needed to be enlarge to suit the scale of the city. 

Any feedback is hugely welcome! I`d like to improve the painting as best as I can before Friday.

Invisible Cities : Octavia Interior Shot

I feel as if this is the finished interior painting which I felt as if this was the strongest of my ideas out of all 3 shots. I regret not taking better screenshots since I didn`t realize until after the painting was complete that the screenshots were such low quality,however, any feedback is greatly appreciated as I want to complete this painting to the best of my ability.

Maya Tutorials : All Animation Tutorials

Invisible Cities : Zooming out the Master Exterior Shot :Feedback Please!

I took the advice given and zoomed out on the master exterior shot to reveal the surrounding area . I do like these shots much better since I feel like the city fits in and looks like an actual city now. However, I feel as if the river in the first and third shot could be further away to give the sense of height. I do like the second one though since the shot shows the temple which i`m planning to show in my low angle exterior shot . However, before I go further and develop the buildings , can I have some feedback please ? For if there`s anything I need to improve first.

Maya Tutorials : One , Two and Three Point Lighting

  

@Phil Invisible Cities : Exterior Shot Compositions, Feedback?

With the feedback from my mentor to do with my exterior shots , I went back and added more buildings to the city and tried more compositions . Although I would like some feedback as if I should do more experimenting with compositions , add more buildings or if this would be a good point to add colour?

Invisible Cities : Exterior Colour Comps

I wanted to experiment a great deal with 3 point perspective as I really wanted to emphasize the tight space and the hanging city in my painting. I struggled a great deal with this as when I eventually painted the city the shadows blended together and unless I added a lineart they all merged together. I wanted to expand the view of the city because I felt my 2nd and 1st colour comp was to focused on an either one dimensional view or just the central building . I`m also unsure what colour scheme to go with as I feel the colours are all to murky and I want to give the city a mysterious atmosphere ,so, I`m thinking of sticking with reds,blues and purples.

Invisible Cities : Interior Colour Comps

I had the basic idea of what I wanted to create with my interior , I wanted to show a temple/shrine including the god that the people of Octavia worship locked away where they provide sacrifices to it. I wanted the god to be a spider like creature since my thoughts behind the city could be this spider took some part in creating this city and is one of the reasons why Octavia hasn`t fallen apart yet. In my mind map I was thinking that the mountains could be more of a volcano which is why I used the warm tones to provide a menacing light to my thumbnails. Also while doing research , I was thinking of an underground cult type of society which planned the sacrifices yet no one knew who they were . I liked how the ominous figures turned out and would like to experiment with them at different angles for an interior , also, maybe for the third thumbnail the figure standing between the figures could be changed into a hooded figure or one of the sacrifices being presented in front of the spider.

Invisible Cities : Octavia Exterior Colour Comp

I felt as if I needed a solid plan for the exterior of Octavia since I had the idea in my head yet it want drawn out. I had the idea of the power source for the city being in the center of the city and the more extravagant buildings were the closest and surrounding while the smaller and less well off were hanging below with hardly any power. I wanted to keep the city looking rather streamlined with buildings that are long and thin because I wanted to keep the `thin city` look to it. I like the look of reds and blues together for the shadows and I think I`m going to experiment with instead using the red for the power to replicate fire and the blues for shadows.

I am unsure as to what atmosphere I would like to go with as I feel the warmth from the core looks more homely ,however, the blue core makes the city seem more ominous and mysterious .My original thought was to go with the blue core since I have wanted to go for a more mysterious city in the shadows all along as that was my original thought when looking at Octavia.

Life Drawing 14/10/15

I feel as if the life drawing class went well , I have learned more about gesture drawing than anatomy and I feel it helped me create more shape to the poses and less stiff to look at. I thoroughly enjoyed life drawing , especially since I haven`t drawn a male nude before whereas I have a woman .

Invisible Cities Mind Maps /Influence Map / Buildings